Which Writing Goes Where

Some rules to act as a funnel to determine which writing projects get put where. Basically, follow these questions:

1. Is it aimed at a wider audience than myself and my wife, or a very narrow set of friends or colleagues (e.g. because it speaks to a live debate)? If so -> substack (or try to publish somewhere)
2. Is it an ephemeral piece which I don’t want to revise? If so -> blog
3. Otherwise -> default to Wiki

There is no promotion rule: a piece on the blog might stay on the blog. But, recurring themes or topics in the blog might be extracted to build a new Wiki page.

Blog

The blog on this website is used for one-shot, dated pieces which record a particular thought, reaction, idea, or piece of research at the time I produced it. It acts as a sort of digital notebook. These pieces are not updated beyond small fixes like typos. Some reasons for blogging might be:

1. Sharing small ideas, thoughts, or opinions which will otherwise die in my head, my notepad, or my laptop
2. Book reviews
3. Drawing some initial connections between some things I read
4. Noting an interesting idea, quote, piece of research, etc that I came across and what I found interesting about it
5. Some creative non-fiction writing
6. Entertaining my wife
7. Developing my own thoughts on a topic by giving myself a reason to develop them
8. Sharing some advice on things like ways of working
9. Side project write-ups

Personal Wiki

The personal wiki (of which this page is a part) is an attempt to start doing longer-term thinking. The goal here is to write on topics which hold my interest over time, to give myself an ability to come back to my old thinking and revise it. And, in the process, to create documents which are of lasting value to me. It acts as a sort of digital commonplace book. This document is one example: by writing down some rules for what goes where and why, it will ideally be something I refer to in the future. Some reasons for adding a page to the Wiki might be:

1. Formally writing down a decision so I can refer back to it
2. A particular question, issue, topic, or idea keeps recurring in my life or writing and requires sustained attention
3. Keeping some technical expertise up to date by making it public, thereby forcing me to occasionally check it’s still correct

Substack

My substack is divided in two: my actually substack account, and my publication, Dysfunctional Programming. I primarily use substack for audience-facing writing (not necessarily with much emphasis on building an audience,)

1. To engage in contemporary debates about politics, technology, etc that I am interested in
2. To react to recent essays I’ve read or events I’ve been to
3. To practice writing for an audience
4. Keeping a record of my reading highlights on a monthly basis and sharing my recent writing (these go together on the personal substack, for now – I may eventually consider moving the reading lists over to the website blog)